NEW DELHI: In what could be a move to cap the acrimonious debate over who was to blame for former Union Carbide CEO Warren Anderson's "escape" from India, Congress's chief troubleshooter Pranab Mukherjee on Sunday said then Madhya Pradesh chief minister Arjun Singh had taken the decision due to law and order concerns.
Mukherjee quoted from a recent TOI report of a statement made by Arjun Singh in December 1984, in which the former CM pointed to the raw nerves and the agitation in the public mind, to explain why Anderson had to be flown out soon after he had been detained and placed under "house arrest".
The veteran leader, who has maintained a stoic silence since the controversy broke out afresh, had also said there was no pressure from the Centre to release Anderson. Congress leaders, particularly from Madhya Pradesh, have been egging on Singh to own up to what he said even as fingers pointed at Rajiv Gandhi's PMO.
Mukherjee's remarks are the closest Congress has come to explain the authority behind Anderson's release and appear to be carefully calibrated as they could be intended to accept Arjun Singh's 1984 version as the official history while also offering him a way out. The Congress brass would also hope this would end the chatter within the party which has aggravated the situation and turned the focus on the GoM that has been reconstituted to look into the issues surrounding the tragedy.
Speaking to the media in Kolkata, Mukherjee clarified, "The statement by Singh five days after the Bhopal disaster had been published in a newspaper... it is very clear from the statement of Arjun Singh, which was published in The Times of India on December 8, 1984, that the law and order situation in Bhopal would have deteriorated and people's frenzy and tempers were running high. Therefore, it was thought necessary to send him (Anderson) out of Bhopal."
Congress has already begun to look at other means to take the heat off itself, with law minister Veerappa Moily attacking the judiciary for treating the Bhopal deaths as a "truck or car accident".
550 biggies on Rs 25cr tax defaulters' list
NEW DELHI: The Income Tax department has circulated dossiers of at least 550 high net worth individuals and entities — who have wilfully defaulted or have unpaid tax of Rs 25 crore and above — to field officers for recovery as tax arrears have doubled in the last two years to a worrisome Rs 2.5 lakh crore, almost 66% of the total direct tax collection of 2009-10.
The dossiers include information on recently acquired properties of these entities, their bank transactions and details of investments made by them in shares and mutual funds. Joint director and additional commissioner rank officers who have been armed with these dossiers have been asked to supervise the cases and, if necessary, initiate attachment proceedings, sources said.
Till March 31, the total arrears were Rs 2.30 lakh crore and with the start of the new fiscal, another Rs 20,000 crore has been added to this figure. Last year, the department had managed to recover nearly Rs 12,000 crore. The target for this year has been fixed at Rs 14,000 crore.
I-T officers have been armed with an important tool, the Individual Transaction Statement (ITS) of the assesses which enables field authorities to view their current assets and an access to information like assessee's recent investment in mutual funds, shares and other expenditure made available through annual information report from banks. Considered an effective strategy for collection of arrears, the ITS empowers officers with relevant information regarding movable and immovable assets of the assesses. The modes used by assessing officers are to identify the current assets and take necessary action for attachment and recovery for the same.
In 2009, I-T's directorate of recovery had analysed the dossiers having outstanding demands of above Rs 25 crore. Out of total of 551 such dossiers, only 258 cases were found to be having wholly actionable demands, that is demand not covered by any write-off proposal, BIFR proceedings, settlement commission proceedings, etc.
Further analysis of these 258 cases showed that 227 of them were concentrated in nine major cities. Each of these cases was listed and the demands pertaining to each of them was detailed. The zone-wise lists of such cases were handed over to respective zonal members for their information and supervision of recovery.
A list was also handed over to each chief commissioner of I-T at the time of annual general conference held in the capital last year in August. A senior officer said in-depth monitoring was done in each of these cases. The supervisory authorities were asked to call for records and latest balance sheets with a view to detect current assets from which recoveries could be made from a defaulter.
Over 60% Orissa mines don't have clearances
NEW DELHI: Is it possible to operate hundreds of illegal mines in India for years on end without being detected or prosecuted? And can their illegal operations be legitimised in one stroke and turned into "legit" business without anyone being booked for the stealthy extraction of millions of tonnes of precious ore?
If the questions pertain to Orissa, the answer to both questions is yes. The Supreme Court-appointed Central Empowered Committee (CEC) has found that 215 out of 341 working mines — or more than 60% — in Orissa are operating without statutory central government clearances. Even more shockingly, some mines have been in business for years without even submitting a statutory mining plan to authorities.
Fifteen of these mines have been operating without clearances for more than 20 years while 17 operators have done so for 15-20 years. Another 38 mines have existed illegally for 10-15 years and 65 for 5-10 years. The other "illegal" 80 mines have operated for one-five years without proper clearances.
What is even more shocking is that the state government and officials seem to have been aware of the mines in question, winking at the flagrant state-wide violation of laws by hiding behind a loophole in the Mines and Minerals (development and regulation) Act 1957.
This is how the scheme works: If a mine operator applies for renewal of a lease within prescribed time, then under Rule 24A(6) of the Minerals Concession Rules 1960 — introduced in 1994 — the lease is automatically 'deemed' to have been extended till the state government actually deals with the applications.
Modi to Sonia: Who's Bhopal's maut ka saudagar?
NEW DELHI: The defining punchline of 2007 Gujarat polls, 'maut ka saudagar', was back in circulation on Sunday when Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi hurled it back at its author, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, to scale up the controversy over Bhopal gas leak. Modi, at a rally in Patna, questioned Sonia's silence over Bhopal gas leak and asked her "who was Bhopal's maut ka saudagar", eliciting strong words from Congress which said he had no moral right to question their party chief.
The comment threatens to revive the 'Modi vs Sonia' clash. The Congress president had called the Hindutva strongman "merchant of death" for his role in the 2002 riots. The barb had stirred an otherwise placid assembly poll campaign with Modi seizing on the appellation to turn it into an issue of 'Gujarati pride'. The ensuing polarization is said to have turned the tide in favour of BJP. The two leaders have hurled bitter barbs at each other since Modi's comments in 2002 assembly elections.
Congress has since captured power in New Delhi twice in succession but Sonia'spolitical objective of unseating Modi from Gandhinagar has remained a sort of elusive final frontier. AICC spokesperson Jayanthi Natarajan said the CM had no moral right to question her as he preached a divisive brand of politics.
Coming in the backdrop of Bihar CM Nitish Kumar angrily calling off a dinner for BJP brass on Saturday over advertisements placed in media showing him in Modi's company, Congress tried to rub it in to turn the provocation into a political advantage. Natarajan said, "Modi practises a divisive and bankrupt brand of politics to the extent that BJP's alliance partner Nitish Kumar has refused to share a platform with him."
AICC secretary Rajiv Shukla said Modi was 'jhoot ka saudagar' and his lies had been caught by Nitish.
Army warning on networking sites, officials posting info to face action
New Delhi: The Army has told its officers to keep off social networking sites and refrain from posting sensitive information like their rank, unit or posting location on the Internet. The instructions follow a spate of cyber attacks targeting military personnel and fears that foreign agencies could be tracking networking sites like Orkut and Facebook to home in on Army officers.
The instructions ask officers and soldiers to immediately delete all existing information, including their employment in the Army, which they may have already uploaded.
While similar orders have been issued earlier, the Army has decided to crack down on “defaulters” after recent cases of officers being targeted by cyber spy rings. Enforcers, however, have their task cut out for them given that hundreds of “defaulters” exist on various networking portals.
The most common “offences” that have been identified are Armymen posting details like ranks, postings, units, locations and training courses:
A Colonel of the Corps of Engineers posted his name, rank and location on a networking forum;
A young Lt not only posted photographs with his AK 47 in full combat uniform, revealing his unit name, but also posted his personal phone number;
An officer of the Signals regiment gave out his location as Secunderabad and photographs posted on his profile gave out his rank as that of a Major;
A Lt from the Guards regiment gave out his name, rank, unit and location on a networking portal;
A Lt Col of the Armed Forces Medical Corps revealed that he was posted as a Joint Director at Army HQ in the Capital.
Some personnel who had bypassed earlier rules by posting just photographs in uniform, without mentioning their ranks or posting, have been warned that this too constitutes a breach in security. Counter-espionage agencies have been tasked with monitoring social networking portals strictly and initiating action against erring personnel.
Under the strict provisions of the Army Act, personnel can be dismissed from service and even face imprisonment for sharing sensitive information that can be accessed by outside agencies.
BJP message: As Nitish sits out, stands tall, lets Modi take a bow
Patna: The BJP today made it loud and clear to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar that it was no pushover. At the end of its two-day national executive — which was overshadowed by tension with its ally JD(U) — NDA chairman L K Advani signalled that the BJP would like to continue its association with the JD(U), a friend of 15 years, but it should not be taken for granted.
The party came out in strong support of Narendra Modi. While Advani subtly reminded Nitish that he should not have made a big issue out of the advertisement that appeared in newspapers featuring him and Modi, the Gujarat Chief Minister made a conscious attempt to drive home the point that Bihar and Gujarat have historical linkages, rebutting Nitish’s contention that he was unwanted in Bihar.
And notwithstanding Nitish’s outburst, Sunday again dawned to full-page advertisements in Patna newspapers projecting the “all-round development of Gujarat”.
While Nitish himself kept quiet, JD(U) president Sharad Yadav, sensing the BJP mood, struck a reconciliatory note. Speaking to The Indian Express in Delhi to repair the “damage” caused to the ruling alliance in Bihar, he said: “The issue is over. What was there yesterday has passed.”
“Ours is a very old alliance,”
Yadav emphasised, while seeking to put to rest speculation that the JD(U) may break away from the BJP ahead of the Assembly polls to woo the 16 per cent Muslims of the state. However, he added that the “objectionable” Nitish-Modi ad had caused “a lot of resentment within the JD(U)”. “It ran counter to the maryada (norms) of the Bihar alliance... It was ill-timed,” he regretted.
Addressing a rally at the end of the BJP national executive meet, Advani too recalled the BJP’s 15-year-old association with Nitish — starting with a chance meeting in 1995 in Mumbai — and stressed that the latter had been a minister in the A B Vajpayee government for six years. “It would have been nice had he attended and addressed this rally,” he said. “The friendship should not be allowed to disintegrate because of some minor reasons.”
While noting that the BJP-JD(U) coalition government had come to power ending years of misrule and performed well, Advani said Nitish could not have done it without the support of the BJP. “This fact should never be forgotten,” he said. There can be minor disagreements in a coalition but not differences, he added.
Disapproving Nitish’s reaction over the advertisement featuring him with Modi — following which the Bihar CM even cancelled a dinner he was to host for the visiting BJP leaders — Advani said: “I don’t know how holding hands can lead to differences. Holding hands can bring love.”
Sources in the BJP said there is a strong sense of anger in the party over Nitish’s reaction. The feeling was palpable as none of the leaders who addressed Sunday’s rally mentioned the CM even once and chose to shower praises on Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi of the BJP for the developmental initiatives taken by the Bihar government.
Earlier, speaking to reporters, BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy said: “We are a mature party which has a mature leadership with resilience... We are showing maturity. For us, our self-respect is most important. We are not going to compromise on it.”
A BJP minister from Bihar lashed out at Nitish, questioning how he had “suddenly discovered that Modi was communal”. “How come he treats BJP as his friend but finds its icon Modi unacceptable?” state Cooperative Minister Giriraj Singh told reporters. “Kumar had never expressed his antipathy for Modi when he was a minister in the NDA government at the Centre.”
Modi was at his subtlest best. Without directly referring to the controversy or taking Nitish’s name, he said Gujarat and Bihar shared a historical bond — from Mahatma Gandhi, a Gujarati, launching his non-cooperation movement from Bihar to Jai Prakash Narain coming up with his “total revolution” slogan after a visit to Gujarat. He even read out a sentence in Bhojpuri and mentioned the help given by Bihar to Gujarat during the 2001 earthquake.
The message — that he had every right to be in Bihar — was not lost.
Business News
Mkts likely to remain positive: Analysts
New Delhi: Dalal Street is likely to carry forward the upward movement this week as risk appetite is returning to the markets on the back of a strong domestic economic scenario and strengthening global cues.
"In the past few sessions, the market has shown good performance and it seems the confidence level among investors is returning as sentiment across the globe is positive for now. The domestic market is likely to start with a positive bias this week," SMC Capital's equity head J Thunuguntla said.
During the last three trading sessions, the 30-share BSE benchmark Sensex rallied 448 points, or 2.6 per cent, thus trimming the losses for the past week to just 0.3 per cent.
"After being beaten heavily on European debt worries, the market is now cheering positive news coming in from all fronts and on Monday, the Dalal Street is likely to trade in the green," Bonanza Portfolio AVP for equity research Avinash Gupta said.
The market sentiment is positive due to many factors. The country's industrial output for May expanded much faster than expected at a full 17.6 per cent, the second best ever.
On the global front, the European Central Bank and the Bank of England left their benchmark rates unchanged again to support the fledgling economic recovery, China's exports jumped to a 48 per cent in May and Japan's gross domestic product rose at an annualised 5 per cent in the first quarter.
"But,investors are cautious and it is unlikely that they will miss any chance to book profit at higher level, which may bring more volatility into the street," Thunuguntla added.
FIIs, which offloaded shares worth USD 2 billion in May, were net buyers last week and so far in June they have made a net investment of Rs 1,576 crore in the market.
Investors will eye the first installment of the corporate advance tax payment (which falls due on June 15) which will give some clue about the June quarter corporate results. They will also consider the May inflation data due on Monday.
However, global risk appetite holds key for the domestic equities in near term. "At the current levels, though the market valuations do not look very expensive, with lack of fresh triggers except IIP, the upside seems to be limited," Indiabulls Securities said in a note.
Analysts also said movement in the market heavyweight RIL that acquired Infotel on Friday, will be key. Also, SpiceJet would be another scrip, which investors will be watching on Monday. On Saturday, media baron Kalanidhi Maran of Sun Network, announced acquisition of 37.75 percent stake in the low-cost airline. He will make an open offer for 20 per cent additional stake on Monday. "But if the open offer is made at Friday's rate, stock is unlikely to move up," said a broker.
On the oil sector, Unicon Financial said, "reports suggest that the EGoM on oil will meet on June 17 and that could bring interest into oil companies again."
Over the past week, major global markets edged higher on short covering and some easing concerns over the European markets. Dow and Nasdaq gained over 2 per cent, while European markets gained marginally during the week.
40% growth in debit card payments: RBI
Mumbai: Reflecting buoyant economic activities, payments made through debit cards zoomed over 40 per cent to Rs 2,508 crore in April, 2010, compared to the same month last year, according to the RBI.
In April this year, debit card payments increased to Rs 2,508 crore from Rs 1,778 crore in the corresponding month last year, according to the central bank's monthly bulletin.
"The rise in debit card payments is due to the rise in economic activities. These are on expected lines as there are signs of recovery," said an economist with a leading bank on condition of anonymity.
In the last fiscal, payments made through debit cards stood at Rs 26,418 crore.
On the other hand, credit card transactions increased by 10 per cent in April this year.
Transactions made through these cards in the country rose to Rs 5,473 crore from Rs 4,932 crore in the corresponding month of the previous fiscal.
The amount involved in credit card transactions stood at Rs 62,874 crore in 2009-10.
Economic activities are on the rise, with industrial output rising 17.6 per cent in April. It grew in double digits for the seventh straight month, on a good showing by the manufacturing sector, particularly capital and consumer goods.
The credit growth of banks has also increased. It stood at 17.96 per cent during the one-year period ending May 21, up from 15.20 per cent a year ago.
RIM shifts focus from execs to teens!
New Delhi: Long considered a device catering to corporate executives wanting to do business-on-the-move, Research-In-Motion's (RIM) Blackberry smartphone has now got a new category of users -- teenagers.
Playing catalyst to the creation of a new landscape for Blackberry in India is the obsessive interest shown by the country's teens in social networking sites like Facebook and applications like chatting.
"We are witnessing a large number of teenagers using Blackberrys and applications like Blackberry Messenger, which helps them send messages for free, instantly, to any other Blackberry user in the world," RIM Global Chief Marketing Officer Keith Pardy told PTI on the sidelines of an event.
Pardy refused to give any empirical data supporting the trend, but maintained that the company has got to a position where sales to corporates and retail subscribers were in a 50:50 ratio.
A senior RIM official indicated that in the December, 2009-February, 2010, quarter, the company witnessed a never-before trend where the share of retail customers shot up to 80 per cent of total sales.
"Many of them have to be youngsters," the official said.
Business consultant Harish Bijoor called it a change which RIM would have observed in hindsight through sales data of last year, when telecom infrastructure in India strengthened. Accordingly, it has now started targeting the newer set of users.
"According to a proprietary study done by us, 28 per cent of people under 25 years use smartphones for social networking, thus augmenting the telecom company's revenue per user (RPU)," Bijoor said.
RIM surely realises that it makes little business sense to associate itself as a phone purely for businessmen and executives, hence they are changing their positioning in a concerted way by introducing newer applications, he added.
Pardy said the Canada-headquartered company is very serious about the Indian market and in a first for any market globally, has launched an India-specific video in their "Love What You Do" campaign, which Bijoor says is aimed at youngsters.
"India is young and the phones will have to be young. Focus on relevance to the youth, originality and innovation to bring better applications are the key," Bijoor said.
Sports News
Germany spits fire, dismantles Australia
Durban: Three-time champions Germany fired out a warning to World Cup challengers with a comprehensive 4-0 dismantling of Australia in their opening Group D match.
Goals from Lukas Podolski, Miroslav Klose, Mueller and Brazil-born striker Cacau were just rewards for a team which also had a hatful of other scoring opportunities.
The victory leaves Germany atop of Group D, Ghana having beaten Serbia 1-0 in the day's other game.
Podolski opened the scoring in the ninth minute, the happy recipient of a text-book training ground move executed to clinical perfection.
After Oezil had played in Mueller, the Bayern Munich right winger cut the ball back across the face of the goal for Podolski to hammer home left-footed, with Australia goalkeeper Mark Schwarzer getting a hand on it.
Klose, top scorer in the 2006 World Cup, made it 2-0 in the 27th minute with a well-taken goal - and his 11th in World Cup finals - rising between Australian captain Lucas Neill and Schwarzer to head powerfully home from a Lahm cross from the right.
The Socceroos then paid a heavy price for the dismissal of Tim Cahill, shown a straight red card in the 56th minute by Mexican referee Marco Rodriguez for a very clumsy challenge on Bastian Schweinsteiger.
Two goals in a matter of minutes from Mueller (67) and Cacau (70), on as a replacement for Klose, sealed Australia's dismal start to their third World Cup campaign.
Mueller, who started the season in Bayern Munich's reserves, looked like he'd overrun a Podolski through-ball it but he dragged it back and shot accurately past Schwarzer, in off the post.
With the Australian defence in disarray, Caucau then had a simple tuck-in from another inch-perfect pass into the box by the 21-year-old Oezil.
It was Australia who had the first real chance of the game, Lahm clearing a close-range effort by Richard Garcia in the fourth minute.
And for all their fine attacking instincts, Germany did at times look slow to close down at the back, allowing time and space for both Garcia and replacement Brett Holman to have shots on target.
Slovenia beat Algeria 1-0
Captain Robert Karen's curling right-footer fashioned Slovenia's 1-0 win over a 10-man Algeria in a Group C match of the FIFA World Cup at the Peter Mokaba Stadium.
First their substitute Abdelkader Ghezzal, having spent just 14 minutes on the pitch, picked up his second yellow card of the match for his deliberate handling of the ball inside the Slovenian box with 18 minutes to hooter.
Reduced to 10 men, the Algerian defence was working overtime when Karen made a curling effort from top of the box even though custodian Fawzi Chaouchi seemed well in position.
Chaouchi, however, made a fatal error in judging the bounce and allowed the ball to brush off his arm en route to the goal.
Karen's goal not only earned Slovenia their first ever victory in World Cup but also put them right on top of Group C which also includes England and USA, who played out a 1-1 draw yesterday.
Desperate for the equaliser with time running out fast, Algeria mounted waves of attack but could not unlock Slovenia's defence which withstood the pressure to ensure a historic win.
This is Slovenia's only second appearance in World Cup, having lost all three matches in 2002.
Slovenia now take on United States on June 18 in Johannesburg, while Algeria move to Cape Town to meet England the next day.
In a by and large evenly contested first half, Algeria twice had the opportunity to open their account but both went abegging.
They in fact could have taken the lead inside three minutes but an airborne Slovenia goalkeeper Samir Handanovic palmed Nadir Belhadj's 25-meter freekick over the crossbar, much to his teammates' relief.
Algeria came close to scoring again in the 36th minute but central defender Rafik Halliche's head missed the mark by a whisker.
Couple of chances came Slovenia's way as well but they too failed to make them count.
Midfielder Valter Birsa's piledriver from top of the box seemed heading for the net when Fawzi Chaouchi stretched himself to tip it over the bar.
Chaouchi, however, was not destined to finish on the winning side and the goal he conceded after the match is sure to haunt him for a while.
India beat Zim by 7 wickets
Harare: HARARE: Skipper Suresh Raina led from the front with a blistering 72 as India signed off their Zimbabwe tour with a comprehensive seven-wicket win over the hosts in the second and final Twenty20 International on Sunday.
Chasing 141, India made 144 for three in 18 overs at the Harare Sports Club ground with Raina dispatching Chris Mpofu to boundary for the winning runs.
Tatenda Taibu earlier top-scored with 45 and shared a 43-run stand for the fourth wicket with Charles Coventry (28 off 13) to steer Zimbabwe to 140 for five.
Raina stepped on to the field after the fall of Naman Ojha (10) in fifth over and stayed till the job was done.
Along with Murali Vijay (46), Raina shared a 79-run stand for the second wicket, which set up the second comfortable Indian win in as many days.
Raina's 44-ball knock had six fours and two sixes in it. After an ordinary show in the three-week tour, Vijay finally got some runs under his belt and the Chennai batsman would be relived after playing a good hand in the Indian win.
Vijay and skipper Suresh Raina batted with ease and were hardly troubled by the host bowlers.
Vijay missed out on his half-century when he attempted a big shot but off Chamu Chibhabha and his checked shot landed in the hands of Graeme Cremer in the 15th over.
Raina continued the good work and carried the team home just after losing another partner in Yusuf Pathan (4).
India's consecutive win, after a lacklustre show in the ODI tri-series, would do a world of good to the confidence of its youngsters just ahead of the Asia Cup in Sri Lanka.
Earlier, confident of chasing down whatever the hosts would put on board, Raina yet again invited the hosts to bat but despite having them in clutches they leaked too many runs in the second half to allow them a come back in the match.
While in the first 10 overs India conceded just 47 runs including a mere five boundaries, spinners struggled to keep the run flow in check and the last over cost India 93 runs.
The slow bowlers could not weave the same magic they had created in the first Twenty20 and leaked 95 runs in the 12 overs shared by Pragyan Ojha, Amit Mishra and R Ashwin.
Ashwin bled most runs as he ended up giving away 48 runs in his four overs.
Taibu, whose 45 came off 40 balls with just two fours, shaped the hosts innings well and along with Charles Coventry (28 off 13) rescued the side with a defiant 43-run stand for the fourth wicket.
Before that stand opener Brendan Taylor played a patient 33-ball 27 to help the side overcome the early jolts of losing Hamilton Masakadza (2) and Chamu Chibhabha (7).
Indian pacers, especially Ashok Dinda, were exceptional and did a tremendous job. The Bengal medium fast bowler gave away just 15 runs in his four-over quota and took two wickets.
Things were set beautifully for India but gritty batting by Taibu and Coventry made it a contest for the visitors.
Saina fights back to win India Open Grand Prix title
CHENNAI: Top seed Saina Nehwal, looking a tad rusty following a long break, bounced back in style to beat Malaysia's Mew Choo Wong 20-22, 21-14, 21-12 in the women's final of the Yonex-Sunrise India Open Grand Prix badminton tournament on Sunday.
World No.6 Saina's victory compensated for the disappointing show by seventh seeded RMV Guru Sai Dutt who went down 13-21, 18-21, to unheralded Indonesian Yunus Alamsyah in the men's singles final, with the visitor clinching his first major international title.
Saina, playing her first tournament in two months, was rather patchy as she blew a 20-18 lead in the first game, but kept her nerves to take the next two games, capitalising on a desperate Mew's errors.
It was not the best of matches and the conditions inside the hall were tricky. The raucous crowd that kept up a din even when a rally was in progress, irritating flies, and the sideways air drift due to air-conditioning, put a premium on concentration and judgment.
However, Saina took these irritants in her stride and after the initial tentative approach, changed her stance in the second game when she turned aggressive and maintained the momentum in the decider when she opened up a 10-point lead early on to seal the match.
"I was nervous at the start and committed too many errors. In the normal course, I should have won in two games, but this being my first tournament in two months, I was nervous. In the second and third games, I played aggressively," said Saina after the 56-minute match.
"I am happy winning the tournament and that too at home, and yes, it's a good preparation for the two Super Series events (Singapore and Indonesia) I am participating in this month. In fact, I am playing Mew in the first round at Singapore!" she added.
On her part, Mew admitted that Saina was just too good for her. "I have played her before and I tried my best, but today, she was too good for me, especially in the second and third games," Mew, ranked No.22, said through an interpreter.
In contrast, Sai Dutt hardly got going against the highly defensive Alamsyah, who benefitted largely on the mistakes committed by the 20-year old Indian rather than doing anything out of the ordinary.
Undoubtedly, Alamsyah is one of the better retrievers around, but there is little else in his game besides a fairly sharp smash that surprisingly he uses sparingly. Under the circumstances, Gurusaidutt needed to be patient and await a clear opening before going for the kill, something he failed to.
"I was anxious to finish off the rallies quickly and made mistakes. I will now have to work harder on my game and fitness to reach the next level," said Guru who is currently ranked 66 as against 125 of the Indonesian, who Saturday night took out top seeded Indian Chetan Anand.
Quite the best thing about Alamsyah was his creativity at the net, marked by wristy dribbles some of which sent Guru Sai Dutt the wrong way. The Indian would have been better off to keep Alamsyah in the backcourt rather than match him at the net.
In both the games, the 23-year old Alamsyah took early leads and then kept Guru Sai Dutt, playing in his maiden international final, under pressure that eventually cracked his defense wide open.
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